Archive

North Korean Orphans: A Long-Running Story
Posted on November 16, 2007 by somefiercething

Three North Korean children found wandering in northeastern China have been granted refugee status in the United States, andoverseas rights groups say there could be thousands more. These “second-wave” orphans are mostly the children of North Korean women who were forced to marry Chinese men. But the problem isn’t new.Georgeta Mircioiu, 75, worked with North Korean orphans in her native Romania from 1952-59. Thousands of North Korean children had lost parents during the 1950-53 Korean War, and many were sent to like-minded Communist countries including China, the Soviet Union, and Eastern European countries. Here’s what she had to say about that experience. “Between 1952 and 1960, about 3,000 North Korean orphans were taught at special schools in Romania. About 1,000 were high-school and college students, and about 2,000 were younger,” Georgeta Mircioiu said in an interview.
“All of the other Eastern bloc countries offered to look after North Korean orphans, but Romania took the greatest numbers. Only about 500 orphans were sent to Bulgaria. All of them arrived in Eastern Europe after being housed in China for a while. Their voyage by train took about 10 days.”
“Some of the orphans were street children. Some were the children of deceased high-ranking North Korean officials, who still had families in the North, but were sent to Romania because the living conditions were better there. Romania was not great either, but at least they had good food, clean and decent shelter, and good sanitation and hygiene.”
“Many of the North Korean children were sick when they arrived in Romania. After the Korean War, due to poor nutrition and hygiene, many of them had parasitic diseases, such as intestinal worms or scabies. Some of them even had to be hospitalized for a while. When I arrived at the school in 1952, the school year was supposed to begin on Sept. 15, but it actually began on Oct.1, due to a quarantine caused by an infectious disease outbreak.”

www.ted.com
filmed December 2007
posted July 2008
Photographer Rick Smolan tells the unforgettable story of a young Amerasian girl, a fateful photograph, and an adoption saga with a twist.
VIDEO LINK:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/rick_smolan_tells_the_story_of_a_girl.html
About Rick Smolan:

Vanity Fair web exclusive
8.18.2008
The Chinese Adoption Effect
by DIANE CLEHANE WEB EXCLUSIVE August 18, 2008
Since 1991, American families have adopted more than 60,000 Chinese babies, almost all of them girls. But as the Olympics introduce the world to a modern, telegenic Beijing, one adoptive mother reflects on the grim realities of her daughter’s birthplace—and copes with the knowledge that her own happiness came at the cost of another mother’s loss.
I began to notice them a few years ago. Beautiful little Chinese girls with shining black hair, dark eyes, and round faces. I was drawn to these adopted daughters peeking out from their strollers as their Caucasian parents happily wheeled them around Manhattan. I found myself approaching the mothers who looked the most accessible to cautiously ask, “Is she from China?” in hopes that I could somehow glean insight into how they forged this seemingly magical connection and became a family.
It is still a bit of a mystery to me how I wound up the mother of a child born half a world away to someone I will never know. What I do know is that I cannot imagine my life without my daughter, Madeline Jing-Mei. In October 2005, my husband, Jim, and I made the trip to China to pick up our nine-month-old baby and bring her home. Our “referral” (the official document issued by the China Center of Adoption Affairs) stated she “was found abandoned at the gate” of the Social Welfare Institute of Fen Yi County on the morning of February 9 and taken in by Li Min, a worker at the orphanage. Her umbilical cord was still attached. According to the note that had been left with her, she had been born one day earlier. The workers named her Gong Jing Mei. The report went on to describe her as “a lovely and healthy baby with chubby face, fair skin and smart eyes.” We know nothing of her birth parents or why they gave her up. Chances are we never will.

The Korea Times
08.27.2008
Korea Urged to Write New Chapter for Adoption
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Dozens of Korean adoptees joined forces last Thursday to ask the South Korean government to address the problems of overseas adoption.
They formed an organization as a first step to call for a transparent inquiry and a full understanding of the adoption issue, both past and present in Korea, which has been dubbed as a ``country exporting babies.'' Since the 1950s, the country has sent more than 150,000 children to live with Western families.

Oh My News
2008.08.21
사회
20만명 ‘고아수출’, 그 진실을 밝힌다
‘진실과 화해를 위한 해외입양인 모임’ 21일 창립, 국가에 조사 요구

국가 차원의 한국인 해외입양 역사 재정립을 요구하는 비영리 민간단체가 출범했다. 한국전쟁 뒤 시작된 이른바 ‘고아수출’로 서구인도 아니고 한국인도 아닌 정체성의 혼란 속에 살고 있는 20여만명의 고통과 한을 풀어낼 수 있을지 관심을 끈다.

매앨경제 Maeil
2008.08.21
진실.화해 위한 해외입양인모임 출범
해외입양 중단, 이중국적 취득 지향
'진실과 화해를 위한 해외입양인 모임(TRACK)'이 21일 서울 역삼동의 라르고 아트홀에서 입양인과 국내 인사 50여명이 참가한 가운데 창립 총회를 열고 본격적으로 한국사회와의 화해 모색에 나섰다. 1년 여의 '항해준비' 작업 끝에 이날 닻을 올린 TRACK은 시인인 유종순 인터넷 저널 대표를 초대 회장으로, 연세대에서 입양 관련 주제로 석사학위를 받은 덴마크 입양인 한분영 씨(여)를 사무총장으로 각각 선출했다.
10명으로 구성된 운영위원에는 스웨덴 입양인으로 최근 한글판 '해외입양과 민족주의'를 펴낸 토비야스 휘비네트(37.한국명 이삼돌) 박사와 정경아(미국) 씨 등 해외입양인 4명외에 이종옥 민주화운동기념사업회 국제협력팀장, 오기출 푸른아시아 사무총장 등이 선정됐다.
유 회장은 TRACK 출범에 대해 "국내에 돌아온 500여명의 해외 입양인들이 한국사회와 화해하고 한국인의 일원으로 어울려 살아가기 위한 첫 발자국을 내디딘 의미가 있다"면서 "TRACK의 출범이 미국, 유럽 등지에서 정체성 문제로 고통받는 해외입양인들에게도 좋은 소식이 되었으면 한다"고 말했다.

연합뉴스 Yonhap News
2008.08.11
해외입양인 '한국사회와 화해' 모색
진실.화해 위한 입양인모임 21일 창립
“수구초심(首丘初心)하는 여우의 심정으로, 모천회귀(母川回歸)하는 연어의 마음으로 저희 탯줄이 묻힌 땅으로 돌아왔습니다.”
한국에 돌아와 정착한 입양인들이 주도하는 ’진실과 화해를 위한 해외입양인 모임(TRACK)’이 21일 오후 2시 서울 역삼동의 라르고 아트홀에서 창립 총회를 열고 한국사회와의 화해 모색에 나선다.
해외입양인의 한국정착을 돕는 비영리단체인 ’뿌리의 집’의 김도현 원장(목사)은 11일 이 같이 밝혔다.

The Korea Times
2008.08.22
S. Korean Adoptees to US Drop Gradually
The number of South Korean children adopted by U.S. families declined gradually for the past years as a growing number of Koreans adopt their compatriot orphans.
Yonhap News reported that the U.S. State Department issued visas for 939 Korean orphans last year, quoting the department's figures released recently.
The figure compares with 1,376 for 2006, 1,668 in 2005, 1,773 in 2004 and 1,817 for 2003.
South Korean government statistics show that 161,202 children were sent overseas for adoption from the end of the Korean War in 1953 to 2006, with South Korea being labeled a "baby-exporting"

The Korea Herald
2008.08.21
Adoptees urge S. Korean gov`t to inquire into truth of overseas adoption

Dozens of Korean adoptees sent over overseas for adoption urged on Thursday the South Korean government to make an official inquiry into the program of international adoption from South Korea, reported Yonhap News Agency.
The adoption issue and its history has never been comprehensively addressed on a national level by the government of (South) Korea, said Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea (TRACK) in a statement. The main purpose of the national inquiry is to make the first, decisive step in the process of documenting the full and complete history of international adoption from South Korea.
The first general meeting of TRACK was held on Thursday in downtown Seoul, with some 50 participants including overseas Korean adoptees and supporter.